1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to housing court; providing for expungement 
  1.3             of certain court records of eviction actions; amending 
  1.4             Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 484.014. 
  1.5   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.6      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 484.014, is 
  1.7   amended to read: 
  1.8      484.014 [HOUSING RECORDS; EXPUNGEMENT OF EVICTION 
  1.9   INFORMATION.] 
  1.10     Subdivision 1.  [DEFINITIONS.] For the purpose of this 
  1.11  section, the following terms have the meanings given: 
  1.12     (1) "expungement" means the removal of evidence of the 
  1.13  court file's existence from the publicly accessible records; and 
  1.14     (2) "eviction case" means an action brought under sections 
  1.15  504B.281 to 504B.371; and 
  1.16     (3) "court file" means the court file created when an 
  1.17  eviction case is filed with the court. 
  1.18     Subd. 2.  [DISCRETIONARY EXPUNGEMENT.] After the court has 
  1.19  reached its decision or upon other resolution of the case, the 
  1.20  court may must order administrative expungement of an eviction 
  1.21  case the court file only upon motion of a defendant and decision 
  1.22  by the court, for cases commenced under chapter 504B, but only 
  1.23  if the court finds on an equitable basis that (1) the 
  1.24  plaintiff's landlord's case is sufficiently without basis in 
  1.25  fact or law, which may include lack of jurisdiction over the 
  2.1   case, that (2) expungement is clearly in the interests of 
  2.2   justice, and (3) those interests are not outweighed by the 
  2.3   public's interest in knowing about the record. 
  2.4      The court shall not hear argument, nor take testimony, on 
  2.5   the merits of expungement, nor consider any agreement between 
  2.6   the parties to expunge, at any time during the proceeding.